HeyBub wrote:

harry wrote:

I think you will find that most timers are crystal controlled/
electronic these days with battery backup. Electro mechanical devices
are disappearing.
In the event of mains failure, the correct time is maintained.

If you want an accurate clock in Europe, you get one that responds to
a daily correction signal broadcast from various sources.

There are a LOT of things that depend on 60Hz. Since forever 60Hz has been a
standard piped into every establishment in the country. The article
mentioned traffic lights, security systems, and computers, but thousands of
other devices depend on a stable line frequency.

I take it you haven't looked at a computer since the '70s. There hasn't
been a computer power supply that cared about line frequency in decades,
most these days don't care about line voltage either.

I doubt that there are any synchronous motor based traffic light
controls left in use anywhere in the US either. The only places rural
enough to have such old controllers are also too rural to have traffic
lights.

I don't recall ever seeing a security system that cared about line
frequency either, all they care about is if there is line power present.